Brunching at Reuben Hills

August 30, 2012

I heard about Reuben Hills (actually located in SURRY Hills) several months ago but never got around to visiting.

In fact, a girl I work with RAVED about Reuben Hills. She told me that one morning she went to Reuben Hills hungover as anything and ordered a four course breakfast which included a brisket sandwich and ice cream. I looked at her, smiling and nodding politely, all while thinking I’d never heard of something so bizarre.

But still, she insisted it was amazing and my curiosity had been roused so I popped Reuben Hills on my to-do list.

We finally got around to going last Sunday morning.

All I have to say is WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG?!?!

My brunch at Reuben Hills turned out to be ridiculously delicious.  I’ve dreamed about my meal there ever since. (Okay, not literally dreamed, but daydreamed for sure).

Reuben Hills is located on a quiet strip of Albion Street, with not much around it other than a few offices, residential properties and a terrace converted into a Buddhist temple.   The inside is industrial/converted warehouse style with concrete floors, hanging lights, exposed brick and exposed beams. Everything is open with the kitchen on display and an open upstairs, which, I believe, is where the coffee is roasted.

We put our names down on the clipboard and waited patiently on the bench inside the door. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait too long. We’re seated on the bar style seating at the window.  Though we were perched on stools with not much space, we had the prime position to people watch while we enjoyed our brunch.

The waitress brought us over some tap water in a cute vintage-style bottle.

We started, as always, with coffee (double shot lattes this time) and some freshly squeezed orange juice.

The coffee, roasted on site, lived up to our standards and to all the hype. It was really, really good.

The juice was extremely fresh and incredibly sweet.

The menu features a number of Central/South American-style dishes and whilst I questioned whether or not my stomach could handle pulled pork or chicken so early in the day, so many things on the Reuben Hills menu were incredibly enticing.

I settled on the baleada with free range eggs (scrambled), queso fresco and black beans ($11). I had to Google what a baleada was (Honduras style tortilla) and I’m still in dispute on how to pronouce baleada. (bay-ee-da? bah-lee-ah-da? If anyone knows, please enlighten me).

I knew it was going to be good, but I had no idea it was going to be THAT good.

I’m going to put it out there. I think this is one of the best breakfast concoctions I’ve ever had. I can’t explain it.  Who knew that something so simple could be so delicious? I’m not even a fan of scrambled eggs. But somehow, scrambled eggs encased in a tortilla with finely grated cheese and soft black beans was something magic. I would eat this every single day if I could.

Boyfriend ordered the soft baked eggs with shaved jamon, wilted spinach ranchero sauce and rye sourdough ($16). This dish was also delicious. The shaved jamon was incredibly tasty and the rachero sauce was full of flavour. A mouthful of baked eggs with rachero sauce and shaved jamon on top of a piece of rye sourdough was really something.

I love when a place puts effort into small details. For example, at Reuben Hills our bill came out on top of a vintage postcard, sent from one friend to another in the 1970s.  I thought that this was a pretty cool touch.

The bill came out incredibly reasonable and we left very, very happy.

Would I go back? Definitely. Must. Have. Baleada. Again.  And I’ll be back one lunchtime to try all the things my stomach couldn’t handle as breakfast.

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